


I’ll Take Care of You

by asexualjuliet



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, If you read this as ship i’ll steal your teeth, Let Toph Say Fuck, Sickfic, Swearing, Takes place while the Gaang is at the Ember Island House man idk about the timeline, Will i ever write anything besides Toph & Zuko? probably not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25275196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: Zuko is sick.Between the headache and the chills and the cough that’s been keeping him up all night, there’s no denying it anymore. He’s definitely sick.Or, Zuko gets sick and Toph plays caretaker.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 31
Kudos: 511





	I’ll Take Care of You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Healing Properties of Cinder Sage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14178822) by [Dawen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawen/pseuds/Dawen). 



> This is for everyone else out there who’s constantly scouring the Avatar tag for sickfics they haven’t read!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Zuko is sick. 

Between the headache and the chills and the cough that’s been keeping him up all night, there’s no denying it anymore. He’s definitely sick. 

Zuko lets out a slightly exaggerated sigh, which sets off his cough again, painfully tearing through his chest. He can barely catch his breath through all of it, gasping for air in between coughs. 

It takes either a minute or an hour for the coughs to die down, a breathless Zuko left carefully regulating his breathing so as to not set off the cough again. 

He lies down again, buries his aching head in the pillow that was definitely nice and cool a few hours ago but is now damp with his sweat. 

From his position of misery, face buried in the pillow, he barely hears the door creak open. He assumes it's just the house settling, or maybe the wind, but then he hears footsteps approaching his bed. Maybe if he pretends he’s asleep, whoever it is will go away. 

That’s the other question: who  _ is  _ it? Zuko runs through the list of options. 

Sokka could probably sleep through a thunderstorm. Aang would probably knock first. Zuko  _ did _ help break Suki out of jail, but he’s assuming she’s not quite over the fact that he burned down her village. And though Katara’s reached some point of grudging respect for him, she’s not about to walk into his room at god-knows-when in the morning. 

That leaves only the someone with little-to-no appreciation of basic social norms, someone who would barge into his room without knocking, no questions asked. 

Zuko’s suspicions are only confirmed when the someone pokes the back of his neck. When he doesn’t respond, she does it again. And again. 

“Cut the crap, Sparky. Maybe Sokka would fall for the fake-asleep act, but I think we both know I’m a little more perceptive.”

Zuko groans and rolls over. 

“He lives,” says Toph, a sarcastic little smirk on her face. 

Her hair is messier than Zuko’s ever seen it. He almost laughs. Instead, his brain supplies him with “Why the fuck are you awake?” and he’s glad Katara isn’t here to chastise him for swearing in front of Toph. 

“Couldn’t sleep with you coughing like that,” Toph says, and then, before Zuko can even open his mouth, “If you say ‘sorry,’ I’m gonna have to slap you.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” he mumbles into his pillow. 

“Bullshit,” says Toph, and Zuko huffs a laugh, before realizing how much that’s gonna fuck with his lungs. 

“Shit,” he manages, feeling the tickle in his throat that he knows precedes a fit, and the coughs come back with a vengeance, ripping through his chest and tearing up his throat

“Hey, c’mere,” Toph says, and helps him into a sitting position. Her touch is gentler, softer than he’d thought it might be. He knows she could kick his ass in a second, and he’s thankful that she’s choosing to show her soft side in his moment of weakness. 

“That’s it,” she says, using one hand to rub his back in gentle circles. “You’re okay.”

He can’t get past how  _ gentle  _ she seems. This is the girl who invented fucking  _ metalbending.  _ She’s a total badass, and to Zuko, her personality has always been rooted in brute strength and a heavy sense of competition. But here, as she runs a hand through his sweaty hair and stands beside him as he coughs, it’s almost like she’s become someone entirely different. 

The coughs taper off after a bit, and Zuko and Toph sit in the silence of the night, broken only by the sounds of their breathing. 

Toph reaches out a little hand to feel his forehead, recoiling almost immediately. “Holy shit!” she says, “You’re really burning up.”

Zuko rubs at his tired eyes. “Firebenders run hot,” he shrugs. 

“Not  _ that _ hot!” Toph says, “I swear, I could fry a fucking egg on your head.”

“Please don’t,” says Zuko. 

Toph cracks a smile. “I’ll be back. I’m gonna go see if we have any supplies and shit for sick people.”

“Mmhmm,” mumbles Zuko, already sinking back into his pillow for some well-needed sleep. 

-

He awakes to a cold cloth on his forehead and the rising sun peeking through the blinds. 

“Oh, you’re awake,” Toph says. “You’ve been out for a few hours. I was gonna make some tea to help your cough, but I don’t know where Katara keeps it and I figured neither one of you would like it if I woke her up.”

“A safe assumption,” Zuko says, and he winces at how hoarse his voice sounds. 

“Here, I got you some water,” Toph says, helping Zuko up into a vertical position before steadily holding out a glass for him to drink from. He takes a few sips, trying to ignore the pain in his throat every time he swallows. He hands the glass back to Toph and leans back into his pillow. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Zuko asks. 

It’s a fair question. This is the longest Zuko’s gone without seeing Toph hit, punch, kick, or insult something. 

“I can punch you in the face if you want,” she says, with all the seriousness in the world. 

“That won’t be necessary.”

There’s a silence. 

“You’re sick,” Toph says. “And I know how much it sucks to be alone when you’re sick. My parents never cared enough to do any more than send a nanny to look after me, but it wasn’t the same as having someone who really loved me be there.”

Zuko nods. He knows the feeling. 

He remembers falling ill when he was young, maybe eight or nine, fighting a bout of coral fever that came with an awful cough that kept him up all night. He remembers his mother rubbing his back, singing to him quietly until he drifted off to sleep.  _ Leaves from the vine, falling so slow… _

He remembers Uncle staying by his side when he was struck by a sudden fever in Ba Sing Se, ladling cold water into his parched mouth and wiping his forehead with a cool cloth. 

That’s the last time Zuko can remember being treated like that. Being cared after by someone who loved him and would do anything to help him get better. 

But Toph is here now, and he thinks he loves her. He thinks he might think of her like a little sister, but it’s difficult to say, because Agni knows he doesn’t have the most reliable point of view when it comes to little sisters. 

Love is difficult for Zuko. He’s never quite known exactly what it’s supposed to feel like, could never tell if he loved someone or feared them. 

Did he ever love his father? Zuko thinks at some point that he must have. He remembers laughing by the turtleduck pond with Azula, and he thinks he might have loved her, too, but neither Azula nor his father ever loved him in the way his mother did, in the way that Uncle did…

The way that Toph does. 

He’s sure of it now, because only the people who love him have done something like this for him. His mother held him and sang him to sleep. Uncle cared for him in Ba Sing Se. 

Toph stands beside him now, running her fingers through his hair, re-soaking the cloth on his forehead when it starts to dry. 

“Thanks,” he croaks, and Toph just smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!


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